Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.

“This case represents the very real danger our kids face online,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “It’s disturbing that a college professor would take advantage of a teen girl and manipulate her into sending sexually explicit photos of herself. We hope parents and teachers will continue to teach teens to protect themselves from predators lurking in chat rooms and on the Internet.”

May was indicted in August 2010 by a federal grand jury on one count of production of child pornography, one count of coercion and enticement of a minor, and one count of receipt of child pornography. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 25, 2011. May faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and a $250,000 monetary fine. May also faces lifetime supervised release when released from incarceration.

According to court documents, in April 2010, a juvenile located in Ohio posted a picture of herself on a modeling internet website. Shortly after posting her picture she was contacted by “Justin Marx,” who claimed to have inside knowledge of the modeling industry. “Marx” sent the juvenile an email inviting her to contact him if she wished to talk more about modeling and asked her age. The juvenile, age 13, was then referred to one of his models, “Nikki.” The next day the juvenile contacted “Nikki” who asked the juvenile if she would be comfortable modeling in a nude photo shoot and suggested she take some nude pictures of herself. “Nikki” then told the juvenile that a professional photographer could take pictures of her in exchange for various sex acts. The juvenile took nude photos of herself and sent them to “Nikki.”

May was initially identified after an FBI administrative subpoena tracked the subscriber information for both “Marx” and “Nikki” back to IP Addresses owned by Cox Communications and the College of William and Mary. Additional subpoenas for the dates of email exchanges between the juvenile, “Marx,” and “Nikki” revealed the IP addresses belonged to Justin May at a location in Williamsburg, Virginia. Specifically, the College of William and Mary requires users of their network to register the MAC addresses of their computers. According to the registration database at the College of William and Mary, the MAC Address was in use by Justin May during the time of the chats with the juvenile. May was a faculty member in the Department of Economics with an office located in Williamsburg, Va. Records also show that May had a home at a location in Williamsburg, Va.

This case was investigated by the FBI Innocent Images Task Force and the Department of Homeland Security and Customs Enforcement. Assistant United States Attorneys Elizabeth Yusi and Lisa R. McKeel prosecuted this case on behalf of the United States.